Thundering Breeze
by whispering homestuck trash
Summary: Everybody needs a chance. But not one as great and powerful as this. Quailwing, a warrior of ThunderClan, is hit by a Twoleg monster on the night of the Gathering. What she expects? Going to StarClan and meeting all of her loved ones. What she gets? A mysterious cat who sends her back in time to live another life- but as Wind, the ancient WindClan leader.
1. Prologue - Roar of the Stars

**Hello, hello! Yes, I'm doing another one. Yes, yes, I don't care.**

 **A huge thank-you to Zixes for the prologue ideas, which I've chosen to implement here! Check them out!**

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 _No, no, no..._ The gray she-cat let out a soft whimper as pain engulfed her. Barely aware of the yowls of her patrol, she tried to find the strength to move. The sorrow of her Clanmates pierced her, intensifying the flood of sharp pain that she felt throughout her entire body. As she attempted to speak, to console them, blood erupted from her gaping jaws.

The black tar of the Thunderpath heated her pelt as she opened her once dazzling green eyes, now cloudy as she inched closer to death. Her gaze flickered from her flattened squirrel to the monster that was roaring off into the distance, odd black feet splashed with her and her prey's blood.

The sounds reaching her flattened ears were fading. She could only hang limp and watch as her Clanmates picked up her and the crowfood.

 _Please! Don't endanger yourselves here in this StarClan-forsaken place! Don't make the mistake I did!_ No reassurance came from them.

Her head lolled as she was dragged off of the Thunderpath and into ThunderClan's territory in silence.

The young warrior was carried through the trees atop the shoulders of the cats in her patrol. They passed through the mossy clearing, wails of anguish echoing those she heard on the Thunderpath. Mentors and apprentices ceased their training and leapt after her twitching body as it flopped around on the bright, leaf-strewn ground.

The tunnel sloping into camp came into view. More cats- warriors, apprentices, queens and elders alike surrounded her as the patrol broke through the mossy entrance and into the clearing. Her internal screeches echoed through her mind as she imagined the pain that her Clanmates must be feeling, not even half equal to her own. They must have thought she was dead, but she was alive, and they were making it even worse.

The pale gray warrior tried to move again, but the pain was destroying her. When would the suffering end?

Her breathing had become shallow. The warrior fought for breath, but each lungful of oxygen tore at her chest. She willed her Clanmates to notice that she was still alive, that she desperately needed help, that there was still hope to save her. She tried one last time to move, but as she was being dragged across the rocky clearing, nobody noticed her tail twitch. Even that tiny motion sent more and more waves of agony through her body. At least it wasn't broken, right? She'd thought that her last moments would be comfortable ones, not like this.

She sent one final prayer to StarClan, hoping that she would like. Would she never have a mate, or kits? Make more friends or grow old?

No words came out. Her intense pain was threatening to overwhelm her. She begged StarClan to let her speak, to give her Clan a few final words of reassurance. Her mind was clouding with the sandy brown rocks of the forest floor.

All of a sudden, a bright light appeared in her vision, and all of it stopped. Hearing, sight, smell, feeling, and the taste of blood all instantly vanished.

At that moment, everything came rushing back. Her spirit was rising above her Clan.

"Where am I going?! What in the name of StarClan is happening?!" she yowled, moving her paws in an attempt to run back down to her Clan. "Let me go back! I have to tell them!"

It turned out she wasn't alone. Another cat was floating with her, white pelt and delicate frame shining while accompanied by the starlight shining in their fur.

"You have suffered an unfair, horrible death. But do not be afraid, young warrior; it shall not be in vain. We will rise to StarClan and I will help you."

The ThunderClan warrior nodded, her own green eyes blinking and sparkling in grief. She continued to rise with the stranger until they reached the clouds. The whiteness turned to lush greenery and the mouthwatering scent of fresh, plump prey filled her senses. She found her paws and rested them on the cool grass, astonished. _T_ _his is what StarClan is like?_ The white she-cat turned to face her.

"I believe you deserve a second chance. You were a loyal warrior, and were destined for great things. However, you could never go back to your original body." The she-cat looked into the other's eyes sadly.

"However, you may return in another's body, either from in the past or the future. Which will you choose? Make this choice wisely."

"Future," the warrior mewed almost instantly.

The other cat scoffed. "Oh, they all say that," she growled, tail-tip flicking from side to side. "Should you be sent into the future, you will lose all memories of your past life. You want to remember your Clanmates, do you not? Your Clanmates would certainly not remember you either, as they'd expect you to be dead."

The warrior held back a gulp of air. "Past, then," she decided, ducking her head to lap at the fur on her chest.

"Alright, then. You will be transferred into the body of a cat of your same age and gender. All recollections of your previous life will remain, and StarClan is to choose which cat would be the best for you to impersonate."

The ThunderClan warrior nodded weakly, flattening her ears in response. "Thank you. I understand. I am sorry for my fear of death. I will do the best for whatever Clan my spirit is sent to."

"You would do your best for anyone?" the ancient cat meowed in surprise.

"Yes," murmured the she-cat. "Please, send me back."

The pure white-furred cat echoed her nod. "Very well, dear Quailwing. Then I choose you to go back to the territories as a WindClan cat. And you will be Wind, the first leader. You will rewrite _history!_ "


	2. Chapter 1: Gale Below Sky

**warriorlife27: Thank you for the encouragement! I'm looking forward to getting deeper into this story, and I hope people enjoy it as much as you do!**

 **Enjoy the new chapter!**

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Light filtered into the comforting, dreamless darkness of Quailwing's vision, compelling the she-cat to draw her paws over her eyes. _Just a bit more rest... it can't be sunrise already, can it?_ She felt something nudge her side and the fresh smell of rabbit hit her. "One moment, Duskpaw... I'll get up later..." The warrior certainly wasn't feeling in the mood to be up and about at the time.

"Wind? Wind, are you alright?" An unfamiliar voice made its way into her exhausted head. Her ears twitched and her eyes blinked open, tail-tip twitching. Everything from the night before hit her: pain, oh so much pain, death, the strange cat of stars, the offer of a new life.

As she let her eyes adjust, she saw the owner of the voice; a gray tabby tom with particularly spiky head fur. The two of them were isolated in a small hollow, hidden by clumps of heather above. The tom purred, seeing Quailwing had woken. "I'm glad to see you're up. I went out hunting, seeing how you were asleep until sunhigh, you lazy dormouse!"

"I was... I was just tired from yesterday," Quailwing lied, noticing that her body was awkwardly and uncomfortably stretched out. She rose from the nest and stretched, looking sheepishly at the paws that weren't hers.

The tom- Quailwing decided she'd call him Thistlefur for now- let out a throaty chuckle, flicking his tail over her ear. "Nevermind that, let's eat."

Shakily, she nodded, bending her head down to sink her teeth into the rabbit that Thistlefur had dragged in from the clumps of heather. The new, strange prey tasted oddly refreshing- like grass and air, combined with the taste of the warm and juicy meat. She relished the taste, pausing for a few heartbeats before leaning in to take another bite.

"What's that face for?" Newly-named Thistlefur's meow interrupted her thoughts with a tone of amusement. "You look like you've never eaten a rabbit in your life."

"Er, nothing. Just hungry, that's all." Oh, how she wished that was true! Here she was, tumbled into the past in the body of one of the most important cats in history, eating with a stranger. Quailwing wished she could _just_ be hungry!

His soft smile showed that he seemed to be comforted. "Well, that's good to hear. For a while I thought you were never going to get off your lazy tail!"

"Um... yeah, haha! I've just been exhausted these past few days." The she-cat almost cringed internally at her awful lying skills. Looking around, she once again noticed that there were no other cats around.

"Hey, uh, where's the rest of the Clan?" Quailwing inquired, scanning the tiny hollow.

Confusion filled Thistlefur's eyes at her question. "Clan? What clan? What even is a clan anyway?"

She took in a long breath and peeked out of the dip in the ground to look at the vast moors. "The group of cats that live in the moors?"

"Cats don't usually come to the moors. What are you talking about?"

 _What in the name of StarClan is he talking about?_ the warrior wondered, however she decided to drop the topic. "Oh, nevermind. I guess it was just something from my dream."

Thistlefur nodded slowly, expression tinged with disbelief. However, his eyes brightened up when he taunted, "Are you too tired to race me across the moor?"

Though her muscles ached, she narrowed her eyes at the challenge. "Of course not," she spat teasingly, starting to scratch out a hole to bury the remains of her meal.

The tom looked on, bewildered at what she was doing. "What are you doing?" he echoed, eyeing the shallow hole thoughtfully.

"Digging a hole to bury the rabbit bones. What else would I be doing?"

"For a moment there I thought you were trying to burrow a rabbit's nest," Thistlefur chortled, bounding up and out of the hollow. "Meet me by the four huge trees!"

Those words caught her attention. _Fourtrees! I know where that is!_

Realizing she was indeed digging the hole too deep, she pushed the scraps of rabbit into the dip and covered it up, patting it down to keep foxes from possibly coming into camp to steal it.

Quailwing leapt across the ledges on the walls of the hollow and turned to look around. In front of her was the vastness of the moor, seeming to stretch on forever. She turned around and saw a line of trees. _Must be that way, then._

She paced towards the forest, drawn in by the lush greenery and wonderful scents as opposed to the springy grass and the heather on the moor.

Soon after breaking into the trees, the warrior spotted the slope leading to the place where Gatherings were held. She slid down it, finding Thistlefur standing on top. He meowed in greeting, jumping down to talk. "Hey, Wind! You kept me waiting! What happened to you saying 'I will never leave you behind, Gorse'? Leaving me alone with your slow paws counts too!"

So that was his name! _Gorse... It sounds a little odd, but oh well._ "I needed to take care of the rabbit," she answered flatly, tail swishing. "Now, about that race!"

His expression seemed to light up at her words. "You're on," he snarled playfully, dropping down to get the best start possible. "Last one to the large hollow has to catch something for the winner! Deal?"

The now-brown she-cat nodded with a purr. "Deal," Quailwing agreed. Maybe she could get used to this after all.

* * *

Gorse sprinted ahead, weaving through the trees with a strange sort of grace. Quailwing trailed behind, clumsily adjusting her position to increase her speed. She could have sworn she had tripped over her own paws at least three times by now. At this point, Gorse was fox-lengths ahead, and Quailwing was almost losing hope of catching up.

The warm scent of prey drifted to her and she veered off of her path, forgetting the race and dropping into a crouch. Remembering to keep her legs tucked in, she crept forward, recognizing the brown pelt of a vole. _I have to make sure it doesn't smell me._

Once she was a few tail-lengths away, she shifted her rear to make the perfect leap. As she sprang, the warrior unsheathed her claws, landing square on the piece of prey. She gave it a killing bite, hearing the satisfying _snap!_ of the broken neck.

Gingerly avoiding twigs and leaves, Quailwing set back on the trail to the large hollow. As she ran, the vole, held by the tail from her jaws, thrummed against her chest, in tune with the rhythm of her heartbeat. When she began to rise on a hill, she saw the large dip in the earth, huge enough to be a camp. Just outside of it sat Gorse, with his welcoming expression and mocking look on his face.

Out of breath, the warrior sat down beside him, though shying away. They'd only just met; she wasn't entirely sure if she could trust him yet. She dropped the vole she was carrying and dug into it, savoring the taste of the forest-smelling meal. Gorse eyed her strangely, watching her take in large gulps of food.

"My stars, Wind! You've been acting rather odd today," he remarked, pressing his flank against hers affectionately. She flinched, hissing as she jumped back, hooking her prey with her claw as she retreated.

Realizing what she did, Quailwing flattened her ears and lapped at her chest in embarassment. "S-sorry about that, Gorse," she mewed, glancing to her right, where she saw the peaks of enough, she got distracted, gazing off into the distance at the mountains rising high above the moors, making the tall hills seem as flat as a Thunderpath.

"You positive? You look like you couldn't chase a dead rabbit down a hill in broad daylight!" When she saw the tom's striped gray tail waving in front of her face, she quickly snapped out of the daze. "Unless you want me to take you home? You weird furball..."

"No, I'm alright, really," the warrior insisted, though her limbs felt weak and her mind weary. "I could catch your lazy tail from across the forest!"

"Is that a challenge?" Gorse uttered under his breath, eyes alight with excitement. His tail lashed, portraying his eagerness. "Well, off we go, then! I'll go all the way to where the oaks end and the pines start to thicken. And you," he meowed, pressing his tail-tip on her shoulder gently, "will chase me! Then we can switch places. And you can catch any prey you find on the way."

Thoughts immediately popped into Quailwing's mind. One that particularly stuck out was _Oh great, it's my warrior assessment all over again._ Despite this, she nodded and watched Gorse dash off into the distance, highly questioning his little 'game'. Was this what being a WindClan cat was like? Endless running, running, running, until you can finally take a break and eat.

Once the gray tabby had vanished into the trees, the she-cat leaned down to take a few more bites of her vole. Once she deemed it was long enough for Gorse to have ran, she cleaned up, springing to her paws and taking off towards the woods. Familiar and unfamiliar smells struck her all at once as she padded through, making sure to make as little noise as possible.

As she passed through the forest, several locations became recognizable; Tallpines, the Sandy Hollow, Snakerocks, the Great Sycamore... The warrior nearly bumped into several trees as she trailed off, looking around at various landmarks that were all that was there to remind her of her home, the one she had been so violently wrenched from.

 _The Thunderpath is close... surely that is what he meant when he talked about the pines?_ _Maybe I could..._

Stifling a grin to herself, she took a few steps back, then begun to dash forward, leaping up and clinging onto the trunk of the tree that nearly hit her face just moments before. Quailwing started scrambling up the rough bark of the oak, feeling a rush of relief when she managed to get through to one of the leafy branches. _If I stay too low, he'll see me, but if I go too high, I'll send leaves flying down and he'll still see me... I'll just go up a couple branches._ Holding this goal in her mind, the she-cat, unused to her new, ragged tabby coat, almost slipped a few times over her own paws while trying to get up to a higher branch, but made it up all the same. _There's quite a view from here!_

Mesmerized by the sight of falling leaves dappling the forest floor, Quailwing sat down, wrapping her tail around the branch for support. "Now that I'm here as a WindClan cat, it feels like I took everything back in ThunderClan for granted," she murmured quietly to herself, fur being brushed gently by the cool breeze.

"Well, then, do you need some help getting down?" a voice meowed from beside her. Quailwing squeaked, scrabbling for balance awkwardly. As she lost her grip on the branch, she ended up looking up at a pair of blue eyes blinking at her amidst a light gray pelt.

" _Now_ I will, fuzzbrain," she hissed, dangling by two paws that were clinging to the branch, claws unsheathed and digging into the bark. "Who- don't- what- don't scare me like that!" Quailwing stammered, struggling to pull herself back up. "If you say you're going to help, then do it already, for StarCla- for fox-dung's sake!" _He's definitely going to notice me now,_ she thought angrily, reaching to try and fail to clamp onto the branch with her jaws.

The stranger begun to chuckle, reaching down to grab her by the scruff and place her back on the branch. "You're really light. Who are you?" he meowed curiously, tail swishing in greeting.

Quailwing hesitated before responding, "My name's Wind. Who are _you_?" She began to stiffen, looking down to make sure she had a good grip on the branch on which the two were standing. Of course, this just made her yelp in the fear of the long distance from the branch to the ground. The tom purred, his chuckle becoming a choppy laugh. "Don't laugh at me!"

"Okay, okay. You're just hilarious, that's all. Anyway, your question... I'm Clear Sky." Quailwing perked up; that sounded like a name she'd recognized!

"So there _are_ Clans here," she murmured to herself, sinking her claws into the soft bark of the branch. The newly-announced Clear Sky tipped his head in confusion.

Clear Sky shook his head, blinking at Quailwing respectfully. "Sorry, but... I'm not really sure what a 'clan' is or anything like that."

 _Apparently not,_ she thought, bending down shakily to lick at her chest fur. She opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by a yowl coming from the Thunderpath. "Wind! Where are you?! It's been way too long, I feel like I've been waiting here for moons!"

Dipping her head in apology, Quailwing turned away from Clear Sky and braced herself, leaping to the ground. She bunched up her muscles as she landed, spreading a cloud of dust everywhere. "Shut your mouth, Gorse! You'll scare off all the prey from here to Highstones like that!" Glancing back up towards the tree-climbing tom, she dashed out into the bushes to find Gorse.

 _It sure is a lot easier to talk to someone you don't know when you're insulting them,_ the warrior pondered thoughtfully as she crept through the undergrowth, catching the spiky-furred gray tom in her sight.

"Gotcha!"


End file.
